


On The Other Foot

by Cxellover



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bondage, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Rape/Non-con References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 14:09:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 19,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/825179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cxellover/pseuds/Cxellover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle is concerned when Rumpelstilskin doesn't return from one of his trips. She goes to find out what happened to him and ends up with more than she thinks she can deal with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Belle had adjusted to living with _The Dark One_. She had learned his habits and likes and dislikes. Some she observed and others she had learned the hard way. They had settled pretty much into a simple routine that was easy for her to follow. 

The only break in the routine was when Rumpelstilskin went off for a period of time to do whatever the Dark One did. She knew the longer he was gone probably the worse the stains were going to be on his clothes and boots. She would continue her cleaning routine and await his return. She swore that the castle was expanding to give her more to do, but she couldn’t prove it. Since he had given her access to the library, she had divided her days carefully between cleaning and reading. She started to measure time not in days past but books read. 

She first noticed that the shelves of books she had finished were getting much longer than it had before. She continued to clean but noticed signs that the castle was, for lack of a better word, worried. She was mopping the foyer when the front doors of the castle opened. She expected Rumpelstilskin to come sauntering through and giving her grief about whatever he wanted to give her grief on. But no one came through the entry. She turned back and saw a rucksack with a walking stick and her forest colored cloak folded next to it. She felt a strange tickle and saw that her clothing had changed to something more practical for hiking through the woods and across the land. 

She said aloud,” You are worried too aren’t you?” She could swear she heard the castle rumble its affirmation to her words. 

She asked, “Do you know where he went?” A map appeared on the table in the middle of the room. There was a gold glowing dot on the map. As she picked up the map, another glowing dot in blue appeared on the map. She figured out that the blue dot represented her and the gold dot had to be Rumplestilskin. It was quite a distance and she didn’t have magic to just whisk her there. She grabbed the rucksack, shrugged on the cloak, and picked up the walking stick. As she was walking out, she found a dagger on the table in a very nice sheath on a belt. She buckled the dagger around her waist. 

She stepped outside of the castle doors for the first time since she had arrived. It felt strange, almost wrong but she knew that she had to get to her missing master. She turned towards the castle and said, “I will bring him back if I can. If he gets back before me, can you tell him where I went? I don’t want him to think I went back on my deal with him.”

She watched the doors close behind her and thought she saw a blue barrier come up around the castle. She could swear she heard a voice say, “Good luck” as she turned to start her journey.

The magic map was most helpful to her. It guided her towards the glowing gold dot. She could enlarge parts of the map to see more of the terrain she was about to traverse. This kept her from losing time with what seemed to be a shorter way to where he was but she saw there was a very large river between her and him. 

The rucksack was amazing. It seemed to be larger on the inside than it was on the outside. It contained some magical objects, which made the journey much easier. There was a pail with a top that had food in it at every meal. It was never too little nor too much. She had a water-skin that never emptied and the water was cool and sweet like it came fresh from a spring. Her cloak served her well to sleep in as well as allowing her to hide in the forest when she heard other people. She traveled carefully avoiding villages and farms along the way. 

It took her several days to get to where the gold dot was. She was a little puzzled because it looked like the gold dot was dimming. She came over the rise of a hill and found herself looking down into a valley where there was a tower. “Of course it’s a tower,” she thought. The tower was surrounded by a makeshift village, which looked like it had sprung up over night. Tents, ramshackle shacks, and Caravan wagons where circling the tower. She could hear the sounds of metal striking metal as if a blacksmith was working. There were animal sounds and the murmur of people. 

She reached into the rucksack and pulled out a spyglass. “Clever rucksack,” she said to no one in particular. She stood and watched the scene unfold in front of her. She observed the changing of the guard on the tower. She didn’t recognize the crest on their surcoats. It wasn’t one she had seen or read about in her books. She used the magic map and figured out rather quickly that Rumplestilskin was at the top of the tower. She needed to figure out a plan to get to him. She looked through the rest of the town and figured out where they had put the tavern. She waited until evening and slipped into the town carefully.


	2. On the Other Foot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle had journeyed to where the map told her to find Rumplestilskin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK I am hoping this is going to work this time since it didn't the other day.
> 
> Depending on how much writing time I can do per day, this is going to be about 7 to 8 chapters. 
> 
> I am going to try to post what I have written once a day.
> 
> I do appreciate comments (who doesn't) 
> 
> And thanks for reading.

She didn’t think much of the guard that they loosely posted around the town. She slipped in without any problem at all and made her way to where she thought the tavern was. Most of the people seemed to be out and about and, strangely enough, celebrating something. She walked into the open area where there were tables and stools and found an advantageous position so she could observe without seeming to be observing and she could hear what was going on around her. 

The tavern serving girl came over to take her order. Belle settled on a bowl of stew and a tankard of the local ale, which the girl assured her would be the best that she had. Belle sat back and pulled out a book from her rucksack and placed it in front of her as if to read. It was a book she knew well on botany so she could “read” and listen at the same time.

A shadow crossed her book. She looked up at a large man with an apron tied around his waist. He had a bowl in one hand and a tankard in the other.

“Haven’t seen you around here before,” he said with a grunt putting down the bowl and the glass.

“Just passing through,” said Belle, “I am on my way to my grandmother’s house.”

He snorted a derisive snort, “All by yourself pretty miss? That can be dangerous.”

She pulled back her cloak revealing her dagger, “I am not helpless.”

He grinned, “So Princess off on a quest to find your true love?”

“I’m not a Princess,” Belle said with quiet total honesty, “I am a servant in a castle.”

The man snorted, “And I am a Prince in disguise.”

Bell pulled off the gloves she was wearing and showed her hands to the man, “I don’t think a Princess would have let her hands get like these.” Her hands were callused from scrubbing and cleaning. There were light scars from where she had cut them on sharp edges. She was proud of each nick and cut because she knew that she earn it by saving her people from the Ogres. 

The man gazed at her hands, “My apologies.” He left her to her food. 

She listened to the conversation swirling around her. She started to piece a few things together from a stray word here or there but the complete picture was eluding her. She though she heard a scream in the distance. Everyone in the tavern became very quiet and turned towards the tower and listened. The screaming seemed to be coming from a tower window at the top of the tower. She looked around and the people looked like they were enjoying the sounds of the damned emanating from the tower. She listened with the others and her stomach seems to drop to her knees. She knew that voice. She had heard its timber in anger and rage. She sat frozen in her spot listening to the sound of Rumplestilskin’s voice screaming in pain and terror.


	3. Chapter 3

Eventually the screaming stopped and the tavern returned to its low rumble of conversation. 

The serving girl came by to pick up her now almost empty bowl and tankard.

“Excuse me,” said Belle trying to keep her voice calm and business like, “what was all the screaming about?”

The girl grinned ear to ear, “That was the Dark One paying for his crimes. He was captured by our Queen and now is being punished for all the evil he has brought to the world.”

“She captured the Dark One? How?” said Belle not having to hide the surprise in her voice.

The man who Belle had figured out was the owner of the tavern, “Seli, you talk too much. See to the other customers.” The girl picked up the bowl and started to work her way through the crowd picking up empty dishes and the like.

The tavern owner took Belle’s empty mug. He returned in short order with two mugs and put one down in front of Belle, “On the house,” he said. 

Belle gestured to the chair and the man sat down. 

“I am Thaddeus,” he said.

“Bella,” she said figuring it was close enough to her real name that she would probably react to hearing it.

“Well Bella, we don’t know the how but we do know that the good magic of the Blue Fairy helped our mighty Queen capture him. They haven’t figure out a way to kill him but they have found a way to keep him contained so he can’t use his dark magic on anyone else. He is slowly paying for his crimes over the years. And eventually, we have been told, they will find a way to kill him. If not then he suffers for the rest of eternity which I think is the better option in my book.”

“Doesn’t that seem a little harsh? I have heard that he has saved towns and kingdoms from all kinds of disasters. Yes, he has done a lot of mischief. I am not denying that.”

“Every piece of good that evil imp has done has come at a price. He makes deals that further his own twisted agenda. I have heard tales that would curl your hair” Belle gave him a look. “Well curl your hair more,” he said a little sheepishly. 

“Does this happen every night?” she inquired.

“Morning, noon, and night. I am told that they gag him so that we don’t have to listen all the time but every evening after sunset they make sure we can hear him pay for his crimes since he is too dangerous to be seen.”

Belle choked a bit on the swallow of ale she had been drinking. Every night? They heard this every night and didn’t find it loathsome. He may be the Dark One but no one deserved this kind of treatment. Her mind grasped at all the information she had and tried for formulate a plan but she didn’t have enough information. She needed a quiet place to think.

“Well,” she said carefully, “It is nice to know that he is getting what he deserves.”

Thaddeus raised his mug and clanked it with hers, “May the gods be praised for our deliverance from darkness.”

Belle decided this was a good time for change of topic before she lost the contents of her stomach, “You don’t know where I might be able to get a room or just a place to put out my bedroll. I have been traveling for a while and the idea of sleeping under a roof for a change appeals to me.”

“You are in luck. I happen to have a couple of rooms next door at the inn that I run with my wife.”

“I am lucky indeed,” she quickly thought that a servant wouldn’t have a lot of ready money so a plan formed that might allow her to stick around without causing suspicion, “May be we might able to work out a trade? I don’t have much ready money on me. In fact I have spent most of my wages getting this far. I am a hard worker and a good cleaner.”

Thaddeus looked carefully at her as if he was sizing up his options, “Now I am in luck. My other tavern girl got married to one of the soldiers that frequented here and she just left with him to his next post. She was rather inept at her job but we had a soft spot for her. She was one of the gods graced creatures and a simple folk. I can offer you a room and meals but really nothing more than that.”

Belle held her hand out, “Well?”

Thaddeus took her hand and shook it, “A deal is struck.”

“A deal is struck,” repeated Belle with a little shiver going through her body. 

“You start tomorrow before the lunch time crowd now let me show you to your room.”

Belle finished up her tankard and followed the innkeeper to the ramshackle building next to the tavern. He took her to a small but clean room towards the back of the building and handed her the key.

“The bathhouse is out back as is the privy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” said Belle. He closed the door and she threw the latch on the other side. She dropped her rucksack next to the bed and sat down her head spinning with all the information and maybe a little bit from the ale. She lay down and stared at the ceiling for a brief time before drifting off to sleep trying to figure out how she was going to accomplish this rescue.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Thaddeus’ wife Mina showed her what she needed to do. Belle settled in and started cleaning the pots, dishes and the like to get ready for the day. Once she had completed that, Mina asked if she knew how to do laundry. Belle smiled at the thought since that had been one of the things she had learned the hard way like not to mix red clothing with white sheets. Rumpelstilskin was not happy with his pink sheets at the time. She did the tasks that needed to be done and the Innkeeper and his wife seemed happy with her abilities.

At the end of the day, she found herself at the table in the kitchen with Mina and Thaddeus making a meal of leftovers from the day. It was an interesting mix of food and tastes. Turned out that both Mina and Thaddeus had almost a magical ability to cook really good food out of almost next to nothing.

“It’s the spices,” said Mina modestly. 

Thaddeus hugged his wife, “And you, my dear, are the one who taught me how to use them correctly.” He took a swig of his ale and changed the subject, “Bella, you proved your worth and then some today. I would like to amend our deal.”

“How?” asked Belle.

“You said that you had gone through most of your money to get here and you still had a way to go right?”

Belle nodded.

“Were you released from service or do you have to go back?”

“I have to go back but the return is flexible as long as I am home before the first snows.”

“Here’s the deal room and board and a wage if you commit to a month of work.”

A month, she thought, that would give her enough time to rescue Rumplestilskin. She almost smiled, this gave her the reason to hang around without looking like she was hanging around.

She held out her hand and shook Thaddeus’ “The deal is struck.”

Belle found herself falling into a pattern of cleaning and helping out at the Inn and the Tavern. Every evening she would steel herself to listen to the screams emanating from the tower. And she observed the town learning the patterns of its people. She kept formulating and discarding plans as to how to get to Rumpelstilskin. He was very well guarded and the entire town was on the side of the Queen. Also she found that most of the people in the town were of the same religion that believed that good will always find a way to defeat evil and good magic would win in the end. They saw the capture of the Dark One as a sign that they were right and just and worthy of their gods favor.

The town shared the labor of taking care of the guards which were rotated in and out at a rather fast pace. This was to prevent anyone from making a deal with the Dark One. Only the most loyal and faithful were allowed to guard the Dark One. 

Once a week Thaddeus, Mina, and Sila, who turned out to be their daughter, would go to the guard’s mess tent and serve the troops. They would prepare the evening meal for the troops leaving Belle to get the tavern ready for the nighttime crowd. 

Belle stretched out on her bed after being given the night off by Thaddeus. She heard Rumpelstilkin scream his nightly screams. She thought they sounded weaker and higher pitched than before. She thought she heard him howl the word No over and over again. How was she going to accomplish the impossible? She had to get into the tower, to the top floor, through the guards and get him out. There were so many obstacles. She pulled out her botany book because reading always seem to calm her. She was on a section of medicinal herbs when a plan started to form in her brain. She started to work it through assuming that she was going to hit the problems with her other plans both sane and insane. But the more she thought about it, the more she knew she could pull this off. No one would get hurt and she could rescue her boss. She stayed up late that night figuring out how she could do this and what might go wrong. Assume nothing and anticipate everything was her mantra.

The next day she managed to get up early and went off into the forest before she had to report to work. She brought her book and started looking for the plants she would need to pull off her daring plan. And the gods must have been smiling upon her because she found a large patch of both of the herbs she would need along with some other plants that might be useful. She carefully harvested what she thought she would need and brought it back to her room to dry. She didn’t have to worry about the others coming into her room since she was in charge of changing the sheets and cleaning up the rooms.

On the eve of the day where Thaddeus and his family served the meal to the guards, Belle put one of the compounds she created in Sila’s stew thinking apologies the entire time for what this was going to do to Sila and her stomach. Not lethal but a rather painful reaction which caused severe cramps and vomiting. 

The next morning she heard a knock at her door. It was Mina.

“Sila has taken ill. I have the butcher’s wife looking after her. Since you have been working in the kitchen, can you come and help us with the meal for the guards?”

Belle yawned and nodded, “Let me get dressed and I will be ready to go.”

Belle hid the packets of the herb mixture she had constructed on her person and went to join Thaddeus and Mina.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is kinda short. I promise more either later or tomorrow. 
> 
> Thank you for your comments and kudos so far. It is encouraging me to continue.

They walked through the lines of guards to the kitchen tent with a large cart that carried the raw materials for the food they were going to prepare. Thaddeus pulled the cart with a harness that was attached to him. Belle noted that the harness could be adjusted if needed. 

They and their cart were checked and questioned at a number of checkpoints. Thaddeus vouched for Belle, which made Belle feel a little guilty but she didn’t show it on her face.

The kitchen tent was well set up and very clean. Belle settled in and did what needed to be done. Shortly they had a tasty stew cooking and started on the rest of the meal. Mina had Belle stir the stew. Belle thought about the herbs hidden in her dress and tried to figure out how and when she should add them. Too soon and her plan wouldn’t work. Too late and there would not be time to make sure they go through the entire stew. Mina kept tasting the stew and Belle didn’t want to hurt this woman who had been so kind to her. She saw her opportunity and took it.

They dished the stew, bread, and tubers out to the guards in the tent. Thaddeus made bowls of stew, bread and tubers for the guards still on duty. He asked Belle if she would distribute them to the other guards. Belle had to force the big grin she had off her face. It couldn’t have gone better if she had scripted it. Now she could see the route to Rumpelstilskin and how many guards there were between her and her master.

She passed out the dinner packets that Thaddeus had prepared starting at the bottom of the tower and working her way up. She was amazed at the number of guards there were in the tower. She was also scared of how soulless they all seemed. These men had no moral compass to guide them. They were more beast than man. She made it to the room outside the room where they had the Dark One. There was a table there where she placed the food. She heard muffled moans coming from within and it cut her soul. 

“Soon,” she thought, “I will free you soon.”

She finished passing out the meals and went back to the tent where Mina and Thaddeus were eating with the guards. She took a bowl and pretended to eat along with them. The guards were bragging about how they were taking care of the Dark One. They praise their Queen and their gods for delivering, in their eyes, the ultimate evil to their judgement.

Belle watched as the conversation got quieter and quieter and slowing one by one everyone in the tent started keeling over. No one raised the alarm so she carefully worked her way to the tower itself. She passed by unconscious guard after unconscious guard. Carefully she threaded her way through the bodies, peeking around each corner. Luck was with her. She carefully made it to the door she had seen before. Her luck held. The door was open and there were more bodies than she had seen up there before. 

She peeked into the room and didn’t see anyone at first. She carefully entered ready to defend herself with her little dagger but all she saw was bodies of the guard on the floor and on the far wall chained in a standing position was the Dark One and he looked like hell warmed over.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where it starts getting a little bloody so I am warning for it now.

She carefully walked into the room expecting someone else to jump out at her but her luck held. In the middle of the room was a strangely shaped wooden table with leather straps attached to it. Around the room there were a couple of tables with all kinds of nasty looking instruments, whips, floggers, and other scourges. Belle didn’t like the feeling of this room at all. 

Once she has assessed there was no one in the corners to leap out at her, she turned her attention to Rumplestilskin and was horrified at what she saw.

He wasn’t standing as much as the chains on his wrists were keeping him upright. His chin was again his chest. For a moment Belle thought he wasn’t breathing but she could see he was very shallowly. He was wearing only a breachclout. His golden skin was marred by bruises and cuts. She was surprised that he bled red but what color should he bleed? She thought. Around his wrists, ankles, and neck there were iron bindings. She couldn’t see any locks from where she was standing. They seemed to be forged onto his body. She could see where the bindings had scraped his flesh raw. 

She carefully stepped over the bodies between her and Rumplestilskin. She touched his chest and his head snapped up. They had blindfolded him and put a gag in his mouth. His face, or what she could see of it, looked a right mess. He tried to stand but it was obvious that his legs wouldn’t hold him. She looked at his legs and saw the damage to them. They had broken his kneecaps and done gods knows what to his ankles. She sighed, this has gotten a little more difficult. She had to get him out of the tower first and then she would try to figure the rest of this out. His head sank back down to his chest. 

She could see how the manacles were clipped to the chains. She undid his leg manacles first. His head snapped up and he started to scream through the gag, “No. No. No! Not again.” 

She whispered in his ear trying to get him to stop making noise,” Sir, it’s Belle. I have come to rescue you.” This only seemed to agitate him further. She took off the blindfold so he could see her but to her horror, his eyes rather than being that large weird gold color were milky white. The eyes of the blind, she thought. She took his head in her hands carefully and turned his head towards her. “Sir, it is really me. I am here. I am not a trick or illusion.” He seemed to calm down a little but was still agitated. She followed the chains holding him up to a ratchet and level mechanism. She carefully lowered him to the floor. He just collapsed and lay on the floor panting for the breath that had been denied him while he was hanging up. A normal man would have died but not the Dark One. 

She unhooked his wrist manacles. His hands were a bloody mess. She could tell that there were broken bones in both the hands and the fingers. Like someone had stepped on his hands very hard. She moved to pick him up and brushed the collar around his neck. She saw blue runes appear and disappear. And Rumplestilskin started choking as if the collar was getting too small around his neck. He flipped onto his bloody back and tried to get some air through. After he fell into unconsciousness, the collar seemed to loosen and she could see he could breath. That was one evil piece of magic, she thought. She then notices that all the guards were wearing dragon-skin gloves. She removed a pair from the guard who looked like he had the smallest hands and put them on her own. 

She picked up Rumplestilskin with some difficulty and slung him over her shoulders like a farmer would carry a lamb or calf on his. She was surprised at how light he was but he was also hard to balance. She avoided touching the collar around his neck again considering what it had done last time. She knew she was running out of time before the next guard change. She carefully picked her way down the tower, stepping over the bodies of guards, and got back to the cook tent where everyone was still sound asleep. 

She couldn’t carry him out on her back through the town. She needed a way to get back to the Inn, get her stuff, and then out into the forest. She carefully put the Dark One on a table. Her eye cast upon the cart that they had brought the supplies in on. A plan formed in her mind. She picked up Rumplestilskin and put him in the cart. She then took some sacks and covered him at the bottom of the cart. She gathered up pots and pans and the supplies they didn’t use and put that on top of him very carefully. She adjusted the harness to fit her and started towards the front gate of the compound around the tower praying to all the gods she could think of that this would work.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK this is going to go more than 7. The characters seem to have run off with the story but I do have an endgame and an outline I am trying to stick to.
> 
> I am going to try to continue to post a chuck a day as I go so basically this was what I was able to write today before going to work.
> 
> I appreciate the kudos and the comments and hope you enjoy this entry.

As she approached the check point that would allow her to leave the tower fortress, she saw that both of the guards were regulars at the tavern. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. She plastered a smile on her face and prayed inwardly that her cargo wouldn’t move and give the game away.

“Bella!” said Sid the guard on the right, “I didn’t know you were helping out today.”

“Sila became ill and couldn’t help today so I was asked to step in. Thaddeus asked me to take back the pots and pans they had brought and clean them for tomorrow along with the supplies they didn’t use.”

“Did Mina make that lamb stew that she is famous for this time?” asked Nonny “She promised she would. I would kill for a warm bowl of that today.”

Belle kept smiling, “Yes, it is getting colder these days isn’t it.”

“Well winter is coming,” said Sid. He turned his attention to the cart, “You know the drill.”

Belle did indeed since she had brought meals up for the commander over the weeks she had been there, “Yes, I don’t have anything hazardous to the town. I went into the tower to deliver meals but that was it. I did hear the Dark One moaning in his cell but he did not talk to me or entice me to help him.” Enough truth to keep the half truths sounding true.

Sid half heartedly poked at the stuff she had stacked on top of Rumplestilskin. Belle had to remember to breath.

“OK Belle. You can go. I’ll see you later at the tavern after I am off duty?”

Belle let her cloak open a little so they could see the tops of her breasts, “Oh, I will save you a table all to yourselves.” The men grinned and waved her on.

She made her way to the tavern trying to figure out how long it had been since she administered the herbs. Getting out before the alarm goes off was going to be paramount to her plan working. Anything less and she didn’t even want to think about the consequences. Rumplestilskin may be immortal but she was very human.

She took the cart behind the tavern and unhooked herself from the harness. She off loaded the pots, pans, and bags of supplies. She pulled up one of the sacks and saw that the Dark One was still unconscious or playing a good game of possum. At this point she didn’t care which, she just needed him to be quiet until she could get him out of here. Honestly she hadn’t expected to make it this far without his help. But he was in no shape to help her at all. 

She went into the back of the Inn and to her room. She grabbed her rucksack and walking stick. She put them in the cart with Rumplestilskin. He was shivering which wasn’t good. She took off the harness and pulled off her cloak. She uncovered Rumplestilskin and wrapped him carefully in her cloak trying to be as gentle as possible. He moaned as she touched him. She looked at him and debated about removing the gag but left it in figuring that if he started screaming, that would muffle it. She felt horrible for doing so but in her mind, it was the only way to make sure that they could escape. She tucked her rucksack in with him and the cloak.

She piled the empty sacks on top of him. Looking around she saw sacks of refuse that needed to go to the designated dumping area. She picked up the heavy, stinking sacks and put them on top of Rumplestilskin apologizing silently for each and every one. She re-hooked the cart and put her walking stick in the cart. She picked up the shafts and started towards the part of the town where the dump was. She got to the edge of the town when she heard the alarm bells ringing. One more checkpoint and she would be outside of town and freedom.

The two guards were people she had passed a number of times on her way to the dump. They were reacting to the sound of the alarm but stopped her as she approached.

“Bella, where are you going?” asked one of them.

“To the dump to take out yesterday’s trash.”

“Rather late aren’t you?” asked the other suspiciously. They could hear the commotion in the town getting louder.

“Sila was sick so I had to help with the meal. I just got a chance to dump the garbage.” 

The guard who first spoke took his sword and poked rather violently at the sacks of garbage. Belle tried to calmly breath as he did it acting rather bored with the whole thing. 

One of the children came running towards the check point, “The Dark One has Escaped! He has used magic to escape. He killed everyone at the tower.”

The guards looked at the boy. 

“Come on! They need you to help find the Dark One before he leaves the town.”

The guards ran off following the boy. Belle was left there with her cart and her secret safely tucked away. She took this as a good omen and continued down the path as fast as she could to the refuse pit. She struggled to get the heavy bags into the pit. The soldier had done a number on the sacks so she had to be careful. She pulled the soiled sacks off of Rumplestilskin who was still wrapped in her cloak but now the cloak had holes in it from the sword. She prayed that Rumplestilskin hadn’t been stabbed to death but then remember a remark from one of the tavern visitors that they had tried all kinds of ways to kill him but none had worked. So he may have sustained another injury but her first priority was to get him away from this town and on her way home. She pulled out the magic map and looked at it. There was her path from the castle to here. She decided to start following that route. The map glowed and showed her another path home. Since the map had guided her well before, she decided to take its advice and start her journey going away from the castle rather than towards it.

She could here the alarm bells now ringing through the valley. And the angry shouts of men being sent to find the Dark One. The first trick was going to be getting out of the town’s area. She remember a cave that she found when she was gathering the herbs she needed. It was covered with brush and bracken so it was not obvious that it was a cave. She decided that she needed to go there first and figure out the rest of their escape.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope to be able to do some more this weekend but I am on call at work so if I have to go in, then I won't be able to take the time.
> 
> However don't think this abandoned.
> 
> I have appreciated both your comments and kudos on this work and hope you enjoy this chapter.

She debated about taking the cart with her for a while and then abandoned the idea. It was easy to follow the tracks and where she was going was not conducive to try to haul the cart without leaving a big “this is the way they went” trail. She knew she was going to have to get moving quickly. She took the rucksack and put it on backwards. She managed to maneuver around the new bulge in front of her and got Rumplestilskin slung over her shoulders. She again prayed to the gods to keep him from coming back to consciousness while she was trying to get through the forest with him. She was also concern as to how long he has been out. 

She started towards the cave as fast as she could go which was not fast at all but she had to keep up the pace. She looked behind her and saw that she was leaving a trail of blood. This was not a good thing as it, again, created a trail that would lead the search party to them. She swore under her breath with words that her family would be shocked that she knew. She took them off the trail a bit and carefully put her burden down. She uncovered Rumplestilskin and checked him over. There was a nasty gash that she could only figure was created when the soldier stabbed the garbage. She took off her apron and, finding the cleanest area, wrapped it tightly around the wound. She checked him over to make sure there were not any other wounds that would give them away. Rumpstilskin moaned through the gag. Belle debated about removing it again when she heard the dogs howling and the sound seemed to be getting closer. She put back the rucksack, wrapped the Dark One in her cloak and got him on her back. 

She ducked and dodged the patrols all the way to the cave. There had been some close calls but her luck held. She looked carefully from a thicket into the small grassy area where the cave was. She walked around the edge carefully trying not to leave any sign of her passing. She put Rumplestilskin down next to the cave and carefully worked her way inside. The cave was dry thank the gods and it sloped downwards so it seem to be getting bigger. She went out and got Rumplestilskin into the cave. She then carefully put the branches and bracken back in order hoping to disguise where they had went. She heard hoof beats overhead and knew she had just gotten them hidden in time.

She opened her rucksack and pulled out a magical torch. She twisted the top of torch and light blazed from it. She pointed the torch towards the back of the cave and saw that it seem to go on for a while. She followed the tunnel into a chamber where sunlight filters through some cracks in the top of the cave. There was a pool of clean water and some flat space. She went back to find Rumplestilskin was awake and trying to get up which was impossible considering the condition of his legs. She quickly went to him and said” Rumplestilskin, please be quiet. It’s Belle. I have rescued you.” 

This just seemed to agitate him even more. “We are in a cave but you have to keep quiet the guards are searching.” He turned his blind eyes towards the sound of her voice. She found this rather disconcerting but at least he seemed calmer. She picked him up and was again surprised how light he was. She took him into the chamber where the pool of water was. 

“Please just rest. I’ll be back soon. I need to get the rucksack.” Rumplestilskin clawed his useless hands at the gag around his mouth. She sat down at his head and put it in her lap as she loosened the buckles of the gag. She pulled it out and was shock at the size of it. It was shaped long and thick like a male member. The discomfort of having that in his mouth must have been extreme. 

Rumplestilskin worked his jaw a bit trying to get his teeth to touch each other again. He said in a very hoarse voice, “Belle? It is really you?”

She stroked his brow and said, ”Yes.”

He laughed a lunatic laugh, “No, it can’t be. This is just another game they are playing with me. They are going to punish me again.” He started getting hysterical and his voice started to carry around the cave, “No more. No more.” He pleaded.

“Rumplestilskin!” she said sharply, “Be quiet! Our lived depend on it.”

He reached a broken hand towards her face. She took it and let him touch her with his crooked fingers. He stroked her face and that seemed to calm him down. He drifted off into sleep or unconsciousness. Belle really didn’t care which as long as he was quiet. She covered him in her cloak and went back for the rucksack. That is when she heard the dogs so close she could swear they were outside the cave. She froze not moving an inch as she saw movement in the bracken in front of her. Then a miracle occurred and a rabbit ran out of the brush into the clearing.

“They found a bloody rabbit,” said a voice from outside the cave. Belle darn not even breath. She listened as the men moved away from her hiding place. She slowly made her way back to Rumplestilkin.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK I am warning that this chapter is a little graphic and next chapter is probably going to be even more graphic.
> 
> I am working back on the grammar when I go back through and reread sections.
> 
> Thank you for your kind words and appreciation.

He was so still that Belle hurried over to make sure he was breathing. It was shallow but he was breathing. 

“Oh Rumplestilskin, what did they do to you?” she said under her breath. 

“I think the list of what they didn’t do to me would be shorter,” replied the hoarse voice. “Can I have some water?”

Belle opened the rucksack and pulled out her magic water skin. She helped him get into a more seated position laying his head against her chest. She gave him water that he drank greedily until he started choking. She watched as he threw up water, blood and other substances. She held him trying to keep him from choking again. After a while he was down to the dry heaves. She helped him lay down again. He seemed to be out again. 

She looked in the rucksack and pulled out a box that had a red cross on it. She opened it up to see clean bandages and ointments and the like. She silently thanked the magic that brought this to her. She grabbed clean apron out of the rucksack and proceeded to tear it up. She went to the pool of water and took a tentative taste. It tasted of minerals but it was not brackish. She dipped some of the pieces of the apron in the water and went back to Rumpelstilskin.

To see how badly he was hurt, she was going to have to wipe away the blood and filth that covered his body. She pulled the cloak out from under him carefully and away from the stinking vomit. She noticed that not of that had gotten on the cloak but there were bloodstains. ‘A problem for later,’ she thought. She wiped the blood, vomit and filth off his face first. His hair was going to have to wait until she had the rest of him cleaned up. It was matted and knotted giving his unusual look more of a primitive look. 

She started to catalogue the damage she was seeing in her mind. Bruised lips, might have a broken cheek bone, face pretty badly beaten. She moved down to the chest after rinsing out the rags in the pool again. Marks of scourges and other devices of torture were evident along with a number of savage beating. She guessed that most of his ribs were either broken or cracked. No wonder it was hard for him to breath. 

His hands were a total mess. She believed her original assessment was the correct one. These hands had been stomped on hard. She was a delicate as she could be but she winced every time she heard him moan in pain. She knew that she was going to have to splint these if they were going to heal correctly.

She debated about removing the breachclout that was around his waist. She decided that she did need to see all the wounds. She unwound it to find a leather belt with a devilish device around his cock and going up between his legs to the back of the belt. There was a lock on the belt. She sighed and pulled out her dagger and tried carefully to cut through the leather without hurting him any more than he was already hurt. The minute she touched it Rumpelstilskin snapped to and screamed, “No! No! No!”

Belle froze in terror. What of they were heard?

“Rumpelstilskin, hush please hush. It’s Belle. It’s Belle. I have rescued you. Let me take this off of you.” She took his hand and put it against her face. That seemed to calm him down a bit. Shortly he appeared to drift off again. She made short work of the thick leather and pulled the belt out of the loop in the front releasing his member. She carefully worked the belt to the back and pulled it out of the back loop. She tugged to remove the strap between his legs but it seemed to be caught. She rolled him gently onto his side to see what the problem was. She pulled back on the top loop of the device and realized that they had put an object up his ass. She removed it as gently as possible but it caused him to moan in pain and at one point scream. She pulled out the wicked device and saw what looked like a male member with a ball at the base to not allow him to expel it easily. Blood and other substances leaked from his rear. 

“Gods,” she said, as she tossed the infernal devise across the cave.


	10. Chapter 10

She carefully cleaned up his back and backside. She didn’t like the look of a couple of the wounds on his back. They were deep. Some she could swear she saw bone. She was as gentle as she could be and winced each time Rumple whimpered. She needed to pull those wounds together before they were infected or, she suspected, more infected. She put the cloak flat and rolled him carefully on it. 

She then started on his legs. They had set to maim him for life. His ankles had been broken along with his kneecaps. There were burns on his legs of different shapes. They had branded him! Her stomach heaved and she turned away to regain her composure. 

“Oh Rumplestilskin, I am so sorry. I am so so sorry.” She said. 

“Not your fault,” he mumbled, “Can I have some more water?”

Belle debated for a minute and then carefully helped him sit up against her and put the water skin to his lips, “Carefully.”

He took just a sip and held it in his mouth for a minute before slowly swallowing it. He waited for a moment and took another tentative sip. They sat there for a while as he slowly drank the cool water. 

She held up the skin for him to drink again and he put up a broken hand to indicate that he had enough. 

“I need to set your bones.”

He chuckled, “Do you know how?”

“I helped the healers in the tents during the Ogre Wars. They said that I had talent as a healer but because I was the daughter of a nobleman and a bargaining chip, I couldn’t attend the academy. However I learned as much as I could from the master healer.”

She remembered Master Fizwick quick fondly. He had seen something in her that no one else had even bothered to look for. He hand encouraged her to read and explore topics. 

She felt him slowly slide back into real sleep. She carefully put him back down on the cloak and wrapped it around him. 

The light started to fade in the cave. She pulled out the magic torch again and turned it on. She debated whether to leave it with Rumplestilskin so he would have some light but then she remember that he couldn’t see. 

She carefully made her way back to the front of the cave and sat and listened for any sound. She worked her way out of the bracken and thorns and into the clearing. She gathered wood and tried to find straight sticks she could use as splints. She piled the wood in front of the cave and carefully went further afield. She heard the sounds of horse hooves pounding and she quickly hid. They ran right by her and stopped. She froze. She could hear their voices debating.

“We should go back,” said one voice, “and start again tomorrow.”

“By tomorrow gods know where he will be,” said a second voice.

“He can’t have gotten far unless he can use magic again.”

“You know that is impossible,” said a third voice that sounded female, “Our mistress hobbled his magic with the collar.”

“Hobbled but not removed,” said the first voice with a growl, “He couldn’t be killed.”

“But we could hurt him,” said the second voice with an evil laugh,” Oh we hurt him plenty.”

The female voice made a noise of disgust, “That was necessary to keep him off balance. And he did have to pay for the evil that he visited upon us.”

“Keep telling yourself that so you can sleep at night,” said the first voice with a touch of sadness.

“I can sleep fine!” said the female voice angrily, “Let’s continue until sunset and then set up camp.”

They got back into their saddles and rode off.

Belle let out the breath she had been holding. She carefully worked her way back to the cave and brought the wood inside. Right after she finished that, the skies opened up and it began to rain hard. 

She went back to where she had left Rumplestilskin. The rain was falling into the pool but he was getting wet as well. She pulled him on the cloak to a dry side as carefully as she could. Between the guards crashing through the forest and the rain pouring in, a fire was out of the question. 

He was shivering rather violently so she curled up with him and wrapped the cloak around both of them hoping it would be enough. Slowly he seemed relax and his breathing seemed normal. She fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion next to him.


	11. Chapter 11

She was pulled out of her first real sleep in days by the sounds of choking and thrashing. She sat up to see Rumplstilskin on the ground gasping for air. His hands made movements towards the collar at his throat but didn’t touch it. She saw runes glowing brightly on and off on the collar. There seem to be a pattern to it. She watched in horror not knowing what she could do. Eventually he lapsed into an unconscious state and the collar seemed to loosen a little. She watched his breathing ease. She remembered what the voices had said about the collar suppressing his dark magic. The word that gave her hope that he would return to his former glory was “suppress” not remove. 

Either way that collar was a problem. 

She figured that this was the best time to splint his legs and fingers and she set about doing just that. She pulled another apron out of her magic bag and get about making strips to hold the splints into place. She was rummaging around the bag having pulled out the meal pail and found a clean set of clothes for her and a simple pants and shirt which were incredibly soft. “Oh you clever rucksack,” she said to the bag, “thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

She managed to get the pants onto Rumplestilskins legs and carefully pulled them up to his waist. She felt it gave him a little more dignity. 

She busied herself getting the splints ready for his legs and ankles. She had an axe thanks to the rucksack that she used to trim the branches she had collected for this purpose. She got the right leg done and had started on the left before he came to with an unholy scream.

“No! No! No!” came the chant with each no getting higher and louder.

“Shhhh, Rumplestilskin. Shhhhh, it’s Belle. Please sir we are in a cave but it is still unsafe.” She took one of his maimed hands and put it to her face. “See it’s me.”

He turned his head towards her and she shuttered as she looked into the milky white orbs that had replaces his own eyes. “Belle? Safe?” he said rather weakly.

“Yes sir. But I have to set your other leg. I don’t want you to become lame.”

He laughed a deep throaty chuckle, “Lame. What do you need me to do?”

“Stay still because this is going to hurt.”

He laughed a higher pitched giggle, “Hurt? Oh Belle, I don’t think you know the meaning of the word.”

“Do you want me to give you something to bite down on?”

She saw the look of sheer terror pass onto his face and quickly said, “Or not.” He relaxed a bit. “Ready?”

She watched as he steeled himself and nodded. She took the cloak, wrapped it into a ball, and carefully put it behind his head. She went back to what she had been doing and started putting the splints on his broken limbs. He tried to keep quiet as possible but the pain was rather great. He occasionally couldn’t help the moan or scream that came to his throat. After about half an hour she stepped back and admired her handiwork.

“There. That should do it,” she said with great satisfaction. 

“Can ya help me to sit up?” asked Rumplestilskin, “I am getting rather tired of looking up at you from the floor.”

The two of them managed to get him right round so he could lean against the wall with the cloak as a cushion. “Thank you,” he said.

She went the meal pail and opened it up. It contained half a loaf of bread, a wedge of sharp cheese, and an apple along with another container. She opened up the second container to find a strong beef broth within it. She took the broth over to where Rumplestilskin was sitting and put the container to his lips so he could drink. She still needed to sort out the damage to his hands. He took several sips and carefully swallowed them. He then raised a hand to indicate that he didn’t want any more.

“Did they…did they feed you at all?” she asked tentatively not knowing how her questions are going to be received.

“A little water so I could scream for the town but that was about it,” he said without a trace of irony in his voice.

Belle gasped.

“Belle, they spent quite a bit of time trying to kill me. Once we had gotten to the point that they realized that killing me wasn’t going to happen, then we got to the painful part.”

“How could they?” 

He raised his broken hands up and tried to gesture and said, ”Well I am the Dark One dearie.” His hands collapsed into his lap. “Well that hurt.” Slowly he drifted back to sleep and Belle ate the rest of her lunch trying to figure out the next step to getting him home.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank everyone for there kind words and kudos for this work. 
> 
> Makes it worth writing for other fans to know that people are enjoying it.
> 
> Here is today's entry.

She snuck out again to gather some more wood on the off chance that she could start a fire in the cave. Her concern was that the smoke would be spotted but her bigger concern was Rumplestilskin becoming ill due to the damp cave they found themselves in. 

Again she found herself hiding from groups of men and women combing the woods looking for the Dark One. From the snippets of conversation she heard, things weren’t going well back at the tower. The Queen had arrived to see the Dark One and there was no Dark One to show her. A number of the guards had been tortured assuming that they were the ones that had let the Dark One go. The whole town was suspicious of each other and the decent was growing. 

“Serves them right,” she thought, “how could they do this to someone and think it was a good and just action.”

She managed to work her way back to the cave and to the cavern where she had left Rumplestilskin. In the fading sunlight, he looked better to her. She checked him over and saw that some of the worst wounds were better today than they had been yesterday. She wanted to check the ones on his back but also didn’t want to disturb him since he seemed to be sleeping so peacefully. She sat back on her haunches and tried to figure out what to do next. She looked at her hands, which were filthy. She went to the pool of water and noticed that it was clear again from where she has rinsed out the bloody rags she had used to clean up Rumplestilskin’s body. So there had to be a way for the water to drain since the basin hadn’t overflowed. 

She looked at her hands and her arms and legs. She was a bloody mess in more ways than one. She looked in the rucksack and was rewarded with a bar of hard soap and a wash rag. She stripped out of her clothing which were the worse for wear. She rinsed them in the pool first and put them out to air dry. She crossed her fingers that the rucksack knew what she needed and that clean dry clothes would be there when she was done. 

She took off her undergarments and walked into the pool, which was not ice cold like she expected it to be but a rather temperate. She ducked her head into the water and used the water to rinse out the twigs, dirt and other items that had seem to get suck in her hair while she snuck around the woods. She took the bar of soap and soaped up both of her hands before running them through her hair. Slowly she managed to get it clean. She then washed carefully the rest of her body. She sat down in the pool and it came to just her chin. 

She just relaxed in the water and was being to drift when she heard the word “Belle” which brought her to full wakefulness. She turned and saw Rumplestilskin seeming to be looking at her with his white eyes. She squeaked in alarm and mortification.

“Belle are you here?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you?”

She breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know where she was, “I’m in the pool.”

“Ah” came the reply. She knew he wasn’t stupid. She finished up her bath and went back to the rucksack to find a drying cloth and a clean dress and undergarments waiting for her. She quickly dried off and dressed. She took the damp drying cloth and wrapped her hair in it. 

“Do you want something to eat?” she asked going to the food pail.

“Some more broth if there is some. Could…could I have some water first. I am very thirsty.”

She kicked herself for being 4 kinds of a fool. She should have left the water skin in his reach. She took the water skin to him and helped him drink.

He held up a hand when he was done. She had to do something about those hands before they set that way. She went back to the food pail and pulled out another container of the beef broth along with some thin crackers. There was also a beef, bread, and two apples.

He took more of the broth this time and ate a few of the crackers before indicating that he was done. She sat next to him and started on her dinner.

“Can you…” she stopped herself wondering if he would be willing to answer questions.

“Can I what?” he asked sounding more normal than he had since he left the castle to her ear.

“See anything,” she blurted out.

He held up his hand in front of his face, “Shapes for the most part. It is like I am looking through frosted glass. I can’t say I am enjoying the experience.” 

“We have to do something about your hands.”

He sighed, “It is mostly dislocated joints. They pulled them out of their sockets very carefully. To maim at the highest degree. For tortures, they took great pride in their work. Putting them back in is probably going to be more painful.”

She took his broken hands into her own and looked at them, “I could probably pull them back in if you want.”

He laughed a very dry laugh, “I don’t know if I want you to but I do know that I need you to.”

She spent the rest of the daylight pulling joints back into place and then splinting them. She had to give Rumplestilskin credit, he manged not to scream. She managed to get all 10 back in place in the fading light. She picked up the magic torch and turned it on to give them some light.

“I wish I could start a fire but I am worried about the patrols.” 

“At night it is going to be hard for them to see smoke,” he said.

She debated a bit but the idea of a warm fire won out. She moved the wood to under one of the larger holes in the cavern. In short order she had a nice little fire going. The smoke traveled up and out leaving the cavern mostly clear. 

Rumplestilskin held up a hand towards the warmth, “That feels nice,” he said.

She took the cloak and put it out on the floor. With a little difficulty, she got him on top of the cloak and then she pulled him to the fire. 

“Can you help me sit up?”he asked. She worked him into a seated position with a large rock against his back supporting him. 

He sighed and seemed to relax. Belle had him lean forward and checked the wounds on his back. They seemed better than they had the day before.

“Magic,” he said.

“Sorry?”

“The wounds look better today than they did yesterday?”

She nodded

“Well?” he said after a long pause.

She was mortified. Of course he couldn't see her nodding. “Yes, they do.”

“That’s magic. Even with this cursed collar around my neck, my body still knows what it needs to do to preserve me.”

“What happened?” She regretted the words as they came tumbling out of her mouth.

He chuckled a dry chuckle. “What happened? Well where do I begin..”

Belle settled in to hear the tale of the Dark One and how he ended up in that accursed tower.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I was clear about when it is what he is saying to Belle and when it is his own thoughts. Just in case italics are what he is remembering and not saying to Belle.

“It seemed,” he began, “a normal deal. One that I had done time and time again through the years.”

“I arrived at the Tower to see the Queen and arrange payment. She asked if we could seal the pact there so she didn’t have to admit to her people that she had to ask the Dark One for help. I agreed not thinking much of it since this had happened before.”

“However once I got to the top of the tower, things all fell apart. I walked into the room and found myself trapped in a magic snare that they had drawn onto the floor and covered with a rug.”

“The Queen was there with her royal guard as where four monks chanting an ancient spell of containment. I did try to back out but the trap had been sprung and my magic was contained temporarily.”

_He remember the look of triumph on the Queen’s face and the look of panic on her guards as he continued to cross towards her until he hit the wall of the spell._

_“Naughty, naughty,” he said waving his finger at the Queen, “Not nice to trap your benefactor.”_

_She drew herself up to full height and said, “Dark One, we the people of the valley find you guilty of unnatural and immoral acts and condemn you to death.”_

_He held his hand to his chest and pretended to be shocked by the pronouncement, “I assure you your Majesty I have not touched the livestock or anyone else in the kingdom.”_

_He changed his expression to menacing and thought that at least one of the guards had wet himself, “You think that this spell will hold me? You think you can control the Dark One? You may have me now but rest assured, all magic comes with the price and I plan for you to pay in full.”_

“They had monks with them who were keeping the spell going and my magic off kilter.”

Belle remembered the monks that traveled through the village muttering as they went. There had been a monastery attached to the tower before the Dark One had been caught. The main building had been taken over by the guard command and the sleeping quarters by the guards. The monks had found other places to sleep among the community. According to Thaddeus, it was considered a great honor to host a monk. At great cost, thought Belle but she held her tongue.

He gestured to the collar around his neck, “Once they got this on me. I was pretty much helpless.”

_He had given it his all fighting off the guards but a bludgeon to the back of his head knocked the fight right out of him along with consciousness. When he had come to, the iron surrounded his wrists, ankles, and neck. Cold iron which didn’t play nice with any magic. They had chained him to the floor so he could not stand up but crouch if he turned the right way._

“I tried to take it off and quickly learned it was a bad idea to try.”

Belle though of him being choked out by the collar over and over again and shuttered.

_He had tried every trick he knew to get out of the iron but each time he was rewarded with more pain and lack of air to the point of passing out only to come to and start all over again. This went on for several days as he swore at the monks and threatened everyone with the most exquisite vengeance when he became free. Sometimes a guard would activate the collar by touching it on purpose. He learned that it was flesh touching the iron that activated the spell._

“Then they spent the next week trying to kill me. They tried stabbing, decapitation, hanging, drowning, and a number of other ways but even with the magic damper on me, my body refused to die.”

_He did not tell her the pain that he felt. He might not be able to die, but he could feel every attempt to do so. It became a betting game among the guards on how his body would save him from death. The days melted into each other as they tried everything they could think of and, much to their frustration, he was still there at the end of the day_

“Then one day, the Queen’s executioners left and were replaced by her torturers. They figured if they couldn’t kill me, they could still make me pay.”

Belle shuttered at the thought.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry every one who has been keeping up with this. Got the flu and was out for the count for a couple of days.
> 
>  
> 
> This chapter is a little on the disturbing side and I am warning now that the next chapter gets seriously in the non-con warning.

Rumpelstilskin gestured towards Belle, “Could you give me some water?”

She picked up the water skin and helped him to drink his fill. He settled back and said rather wistfully, “It’s the little things like that you miss the most.”

“Sorry?”

“Nothing,” he said with a wave of his hand, “Just thinking aloud. Anyway, they replaced the noble executioners with the rather thuggish tortures.”

_He remember the day that he was handed off for torture. The chief executioner almost looked sorry for him._

_“Rumpelstilskin, I honestly believe it would be better if we had managed to kill you. May the gods have mercy on your soul if you have one.”_

_They had Rumpelstilskin strung up in the middle of the room with his toes barely touching the ground. Made it hard to breath but his body found a way._

“They started slow. Softening up they called it. It all started with a beating with fists and blunt objects. Enough to bruise but not to break. They took great pride in their work. They then observed how long it took for their handy work to vanish.”

“Did you ever try to get away?”

He laughed a stiff barking laugh, “I didn't stop trying but they found ways to keep me there besides the spells.”

“Your legs?” She started to gesture to his legs and then stopped.

He put his hand in front of his face, “My eyes.” He shuttered at the memory.

_They held him down on the table as the monk put the drops in his eyes and started chanting. The solution burned. He tried not to scream but the pain got to the point where there was no choice left. It was like they were burning his eyes out of their sockets. Eventually he passed out from the pain. When he came to, he was chained to the floor in the middle of the room again but he couldn’t a thing. Panic had set in as he tried to see something…anything. The laughter of the guards didn’t help matters. Now he couldn’t see the blows coming. He couldn’t steel himself for the pain. He felt helpless and this scared and angered him._

“After that I did manage to get away a few time. Each time they would bring me back and break a limb for me to keep me from running. It would heal but next time they would break two parts of the leg and so on.”

“They took great pride in seeing who could make me scream the loudest. And even greater pride in finding new ways to make me scream.”

_He could recognize what they were trying to do and how they were trying to break him down. He knew that eventually this was going to take a turn for the worse. They brought the table in. One of the thugs had taken great pleasure in describing what they had designed to continue his torture and humiliation._

“Eventually even they got bored and lazy and I was able to escape again. I got further than I had before they found me and brought me back to the tower. This time I knew I was in for it. They stripped me naked yet again and tied me down to the table.”

He stopped in his narrative looking rather uncomfortable and scared again.

Belle took his broken hands into hers and said, “You can tell me anything. I will not think any less of you. You had no control over the situation you found yourself in.”

He sighed, “I know. I find myself so very tired. Even talking is an effort.”

She put a hand to his face, “Your body is healing. It needs sleep to continue to heal.” 

She helped him to lie down and wrapped him in the cloak. She watched as he relaxed into sleep.

“Rest Rumpelstilskin, we’ll find our way home.”

How she didn’t know but she did know that she had to get him home sooner than later. This cave was damp and she didn’t need him becoming ill. She sat and pondered her options while Rumpelstilskin slept.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter I have been warning about since the beginning.
> 
> So warning for non-con and rape.

Belle snuck out for some more wood for a fire. When she returned she found Rumpelstilskin sitting up with his back on the rock near the fire circle. 

“Who’s there?” he asked. She could hear the tension in his voice.

“It’s Belle.” She watched as he physically relaxed. “I went to get some firewood for tonight.”

“Ah,” he said and absentmindedly tried to scratch his legs. The splints on his hands caught him short.

“Do your legs hurt?”

“No, but they itch a lot.”

“Can I check on them?”

He nodded. She put the wood in the pile with the other sticks she had gathered and went to look at his wounds.

“I must look a fright,”he said with a slight grin.

“Well you could do with a bath.” She thought a moment and said, “We have a pool here I have been using for bathing, do you want to use it?”

He thought about it for a moment and nodded, “But you are going to have to help me.”

It took a while to remove the splints and bandages from his body. With her help, he shrugged off his shirt and pants. They were covered in blood and dirt. She rinsed them out in the pool and checked in the magic rucksack and found clean clothing for him and her. She stripped down to her under garments and helped him into the pool. He relaxed in the water. She found a natural shelf in the pool he could sit on. She had the bar of soap and she washed his hair. He relaxed at her ministrations. 

“This feels wonderful.” He said with a purr. She could swear she could hear a rumble in his chest like a cat. She was hoping this was not the lung sickness.

“I promised you the rest of the tale.”

“You don’t have to…”

He held up a hand cutting her off, “No, better that I do. Maybe the nightmares would stop.”

He took in a deep breath, “I had escaped again and they had stripped and strapped me to a table they had build specifically for me.”

_He knew it was going to be bad. They were very upset about his latest escape. He had almost made it out of their territory. He didn’t know how he was going to get home but he would find a way._

_The two largest brutes had been discussing what they could do to him in rather graphic detail. One promised new patterns on his skin with his branding iron. The other was going to flay his back raw and then rub salt in the wounds. Then the little torturer who really seemed to enjoy his pain and suffer a little too much came up with another game for them to play._

“They played dice for the honor of torturing me first. There was a tie between two of the six. So they decided to have a go at me at the same time. They….they….” He stopped not knowing quite how to go on. 

Belle held his hand in hers and squeezed it gently as encouragement. She had a feeling that speaking now would be a bad idea.

He steeled himself, “They violated me. They raped me and passed me around like a party favor.”

_He heard the laugher and joking in the other room as he tried to find a way out of his bonds. They came back in telling him that he was in for it now._

_One of the thugs grabbed his hair with one hand and pulled his head up. He heard the sound of a belt being removed and cloth sliding down._

_“I feel any teeth and you are going to lose them all. Then we’ll just see how long it takes your body to repair that.”_

_Rumplestilskin felt something bump up against his lips._

_“Open up.”_

_He held his mouth shut and got a sound blow to the head for his troubles._

_“Open up.”_

_“Here let me help,” said the sadist and he squeezed Rumpelstilskin’s nose shut. He tried not to open his mouth but lack of oxygen won out and he opened it for air only to have the thug’s male member shoved into it. The sadist let go of his nose and he did what he could to suck air through it but the mass in his mouth wasn’t making this easy. He tried to relax but the feeling of the member hitting the back of his throat made him gag, which seemed to amuse the tortures even more._

_He was figuring out how to breath when he felt something against his ass. He panicked and tried to get away from the probing object. But he couldn’t. He was too well tied to the table. He felt the burning and pain as he was violated from behind. They fucked him until they came. When they released him, he spit out what he could which got him another blow to the head. The next two then had their go at him with the same results. By the third set, he was practically unconscious from pain and panic. They finished up and then compared notes with each other._

_“He has a tight ass,” said one._

_“Too tight, we need to loosen him up a bit so I don't feel like he is going to tear my dick off with his ass,” said another._

_“He is a good little cocksucker. Almost like he has done this before.”_

_“I’ll have to try that,” said the first voice._

_“Now is as good a time as any,” said another voice._

_He found himself being forced to suck while being fucked again. They added whipping to the mix to give the others something to do while they waited their turn for him. Somewhere in the middle of the third round, he mercifully passed out._

_They poured cold buckets of water over him bring him back to and clean up the mess they had made. He came to with a gag in his mouth that almost made him choke at its size and thickness. His ass burned with the faked member they had shoved up his ass to make it easier to fuck him. They then proceeded to piss on him to, as they put it, mark their territory. They put the block between his ankles and took a large hammer and re-broke both his ankles. That was the worse because it reminded him of the man he had been. The coward would ran or rather hobbled away from the battlefield. They hung him up by the wrists on the wall leaving the sound of the monks chanting ringing in his ears. The next couple of days pretty much blended together but now he was their sex toy and they took all advantages of him that they possibly could._

_Eventually fight had been fucked out of him. At that point if the magic gave up and let him die, he would have taken that sweet release. He now wished for death._

“One day then melted into another. More pain and more humiliation. Then you found me and now we are here.”

She hugged him gently and said, “I am so sorry.”

He shrugged, “It is the past.”

She didn’t reply. She had heard him cry out in his sleep and she knew he was giving her just the bare bones of what had happened to him. She helped him out of the pool and dried him off. She helped him to get dressed and settled.

He sighed and enjoyed the feeling of being clean. She started to re-splint his legs but discovered that the right knee was basically healed so she only had to splint the ankle. The brands on his legs seemed to be fading. The wounds all over his body were closed and showing signs of further healing. She breathed a sigh of relief. Less chance of infection. If he continued at this pace, they should be able to leave for home in a couple of days. The hands were healing more slowly but the joints being back in place had helped a lot.

She was feeling that they might make it but the sounds above their heads reminded her that it was not going to be easy.


	16. Chapter 16

That night they decided not to light the fire. The sounds over their head convinced them that the enemy was too close for comfort.

Belle curled up with Rumpelstilskin. She fell asleep trying to think of a way to rid him of the cold iron which wrapped his body.

The next morning she awoke with a start as she heard Rumplestilskin choking for air. She tried to make him comfortable and prayed that the fit would pass. She noticed that the rune pattern was the same as the other day. After a while his breathing returned to normal. She waited for him to return to consciousness while busying herself with getting food ready and other chores to keep their lair clean. 

His eyes opened and again her heart dropped as she observed the milky orbs in his skull.

“Belle?” he tentatively croaked. 

“Here, have some water,” she said taking the waterskin to him. He drank his fill and cleared his throat.

“Do you want some food?” she asked as she helped him sit up. 

He nodded. She went to the magic meal pail and found oatmeal for them both. She fed him and then herself. 

“We can’t stay here much longer,” he said. He gestured towards the collar, “This is how they found me when I got away. At sunrise, they cast a spell to find the collar.”

“But they haven’t found us yet,” said Belle.

“Belle, I want to go home,” he said rather wistfully. “I want to sleep in a bed. I want…” he trailed off.

“Let's see how your body is doing,” she said. She undid the splints and found that both knees were healed for the most part as was the left ankle. The right ankle was still seriously damaged. His hands were mostly healed so she left the splints off. The wounds were vanishing. There was some scarring but that was to be expected.

“I think we can try walking today,” she said. 

They spent the rest of the morning working on his walking. She supported him on one side and he used one of the longer limbs she had collected on the other. They did a couple of rounds of the cave. He broke out in sweat and, after stumbling and almost falling, said, “Enough please.” 

She helped him back to his rock and gave him lunch. He could feed himself with out the splints on his fingers. She thought he enjoyed being able to do so. It was a soft stew with lots of vegetables. After he finished his lunch, he drifted back to sleep.

She started thinking about how they could get home. She pulled out the magic map and looked at it. But it seemed to be a blank page. She wondered if it had stopped working or if the light was just too dim in the cave. She walked to the front of the cave and the map popped back into focus. She figured out that they were the blue and gold dot and the castle was the green dot. It seemed so far away. She went through several possible paths. The problem was that she also saw red dots littered all around them. She figured out that there must be the patrols that are looking for them. And they were everywhere. Traveling at night seemed to be the way to go but how was she going to get a blind cripple through this. She sighed. It seemed hopeless but she knew that she had to do it.

She went back to the cave proper. Rumplestilskin was still asleep. She decided to take another bath because once they started they weren’t going to have time for anything but running. She undressed, grabbed the soap and washrag, and walked into the warm water.

Rumplestilskin awoke to the sounds of quiet splashing. He turned his head towards the sound and was quite surprised when he realized that his vision was returning. Rather than looking through white glass and only seeing shapes if they were very well lit, it was like lightly frosted glass. He could almost see Belle in the pool and he realized that she was naked cavorting in the water like a nymph. He blushed and could feel his trousers getting a little tight in certain areas. He looked away but kept glimpsing back at the lovely site. 

Belle emerged from the pool and used the towel to dry off before putting on her clothes. She saw that Rumplestilskin’s eyes were open. 

“You all right?” she asked.

He nodded. 

“Do you want to try to walk again? Or would you like to take a bath?”

He thought about it, “Bath.”

She helped him strip and get into the pool. She noticed that his member was semi hard but she didn’t comment on it. She handed him the soap and the washrag and let him wash himself.

He found the shelf and sat down. It felt glorious to be able to do for himself again. Also he didn’t need her to see that she had inflamed him. He washed up and she helped him out and getting his clothes on.

They sat down to dinner. Half way through they heard voices echoing in the cave that were not their own.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On call this weekend so here is a short bit. Hope to get more up.
> 
> Thanks for your encouragement. This piece is going longer than its original outline but the characters are going interesting places.

Belle and Rumplestilskin froze. Belle took the cloak and handed it to Rumplstilskin who took it.

“Wrap yourself up in it and stay here,” she whispered in his ear. She cautiously made her way to the front of the cave and hid behind a large rock.

“Sila,” said a young voice, “I found a cave!”

“Hush Tobias, keep your voice down. You don’t want the Dark One to find you. Let’s go find the guard.”

“But maybe the Dark One is hiding there. Maybe we can earn the Queen’s reward and bring honor and blessings upon our families.”

“Or maybe there are some wild animals in there that will eat you if you don’t get back here.”

“I’m not a child Sila!”

“Tobias you are nine summers old, you are a child and you are asking like a petulant one right now. Now hush.”

Belle heard the crunching of the brush she had placed so carefully in front of the opening of the cave to make it look like the rest of the thicket around the small grassy meadow.

“Wow! You got to see this Sila!”

“Tobias! Tobias you get out here right now or I am going to tell your mother what you did.”

“No you won’t. You would be in as much trouble as I if you told my mother because she would tell your mother and they both told us to stay in the village. But we both want to earn the reward and the glory for recapturing the Dark One. Now get in here and see what I found.”

Belle heard more breaking sticks.

“This is dangerous Tobias.”

“This makes sense from what the guards said at the tavern about how the monks couldn’t find the Dark One like they could all the other times.”

Belle felt a catch in her breath. 

“You were right Tobias now lets go get the guards.”

“No! We have to find the Dark One to get the reward. We tell the guards and they will take the credit for themselves to save them from another beating.”

Belle stepped out from her hiding place.

They both turned at the sound and said “Belle!” in unison. 

“We thought you were dead!” said Sila she took half a step back, “Are you a ghost?”

“The Guards said that the Dark One had killed you and used your blood to get away,” said Tobias.

Belle raised her hand and said, “Not dead and not a ghost.”

Sila hugged her hard, “ We missed you.”

Tobias said, “How did you get away from the Dark One?”

Belle debated for a moment as to what to say but the sound of a stick tapping it’s way towards her shortened her list of choices. Rumplestilskin emerged from the back of the cave. He was covered in the cloak using the stick both for support and to “see” where he was going.

“Sila..Tobias…this is my master, Rumplestilskin.”

Rumplestilskin pulled back the hood of the cloak revealing his face and Sila and Tobias dropped to their knees and covered their eyes.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next piece. 
> 
> Comments and input are gratefully accepted.
> 
> I do know that I am not consistently spelling Rumple's name right. I have gone back and corrected it where I have found it.

“Please Sir don’t turn us into animals!” said Tobias.

“Please Dark One, don’t kill us!” whispered Sila.

Belle went to them and helped them up, “He won’t turn you into animals or kill you. He’s not like that. I just want to get him home.”

“But, but he is the Dark One, evil that walks among us.”

“You lad, have been listening to your elders entirely too much,” said Rumplestilskin with his high-pitched giggle that was both disarming and reduced the tension in the room.

Sila and Tobias looked at Rumpelstilskin. They saw not the demon they had been taught to fear who would kill them with no more than a look. They saw a man with a slightly odd skin color dressed as their mums and dads were dressed leaning heavily on a wooden staff. His eyes were white and they didn’t seen to be looking anywhere.

Belle stood behind them and watched them relax a bit.

“You’re not that scary,” said Tobias defiantly. 

“No, I’m much more than that,” said Rumpelstilkin with a slight growl, “and you would do well to remember that.”

Tobias opened his mouth and then closed it thinking better of releasing his next comment.

Sila turned to Belle, “Why are you working for this monster?”

“We made a deal. He saved my people from the Ogres and I agreed to serve him.”

“You’re his slave?” said Sila with shock and anger.

“No!” said Belle, “Not his slave…servant yes but not his slave. And he has been kind to me.”

“Kind? Keeping you from your family?”

“It was a deal that I made willingly Sila. And honestly I think I am better off than I would have been if I had stayed. By this point I would be married off to my father’s bravest knight and probably had at least one if not two children by now.”

“That wouldn’t be so bad,” said Sila, “better than spending your life in a tavern serving….” Her voice dropped off.

“Sila, you are a good and smart girl. You do your parents proud,” said Belle, “I have seen it. Some day you will find a husband and you will have children and a good home.”

Tobias snuck his way forward to Rumpelstilskin looking at him almost transfixed by the Dark One. He reached out and touched his hand. Rumpelstilskin turned his face towards the boy who jumped back.

“Can I help you?” asked Rumpelstilskin.

Tobias shook his head.

Belle said, “He can’t see you. The monks blinded him.”

Both Sila and Tobias were shocked at that revelation. 

“They blinded you?” asked Tobias in a whisper.

Rumplestilkin nodded, “Among other things.” He showed the iron rings around his wrists and ankles that were tearing his flesh raw and the collar that surrounded his neck. They saw the fading brands and other injuries on his flesh. The shock turned to horror at what had been done to him.

Belle said, “All I want to do is get him home. He has suffered enough for his supposed crimes don’t you think?”

Both nodded.

“Now I need you to forget that you saw us and go back carefully to the tower. I promise that there is will be no retribution on the tower or the people of the town.”

They looked back at Rumpelstilskin who nodded in agreement and said, “A deal is struck?”

Tobias took Rumpelstilskin’s hand and shook it, “A deal is struck.”

Sila hugged Belle tight, “Please be safe. I promise I won’t say a word.”

Belle hugged Sila back, “I will. And thank you.”

The two younglings went back out of the cave the way that they came and Belle carefully replaced the brush they had broken to get in. She waited a bit until she heard them leave.

She turned to Rumpelstilskin and said, “We need to leave tonight. I trust them but I don’t trust the adults if they are caught getting back into the town. Are you up to fleeing…again?”

Rumpelstilskin laughed, “Why not? I might make it this time.”

She helped him back to the chamber with the pool. She pulled out a pair of boots and socks out of the rucksack. She put the socks and boots on Rumpelstilskins’ feet. The laces on the boots made it possible for her to put one on his right foot with the splint still on his ankle.

They ate a quick meal. Belle gathered up their things into the rucksack and grabbed limb to use as walking stick from the pile of wood she had gathered. She belted on her dagger and turned to Rumplestilskin, “Shall we go?”

He nodded and she took his arm guiding him to the front of the cave and out.


	19. Chapter 19

It was dusk, which was good. Belle figured it would be safer to travel at night than by day. They were also blessed with an almost full moon which meant that they would have some light their journey home so Belle could guide Rumpelstilskin.

She listened to the sounds around her. She didn’t hear anything that indicated that the town’s people or guards were in the area. But from what the children had said, she knew that this would not be the case in the morning since it seemed that they had narrowed their search to this portion of the forest.

She debated about using the road. The advantage would be that it was pretty level so there would be less to worry about tripping on which, with guiding a blind man, was a concern. But the road was pretty well traveled. She remembered a footpath she had used to come to the town but not quite how to get back to it. She pulled out the magic map and consulted it. The easiest way back to the footpath into the mountains was to go along the road until the second stream and then head north from there. She looked up at the stars and got her bearings from them.

“Ready?”

Rumpelstilskin snorted, “As I will ever be.”

They made their way to the road and started down it. They had gotten maybe half a mile when Rumpelstilskin yanked on her arm that she was guiding him with. She turned and looked at him.

He mouthed silently “Horses.”

She didn’t hear it but trusted his ears. They got off the road and hid in the thicket. Soon she could hear the horses as well. They watched as the guards reined their horses in right in front of them. 

“The brats must have given us a bum steer,” said one of the thuggish men. Rumpelstilskin reacted to the voice. The look on his face was fear and horror. She could see he was shivering. She was worried that the sound might alert the horsemen of where they were hiding.

“Naw, the boy’s dad had beating out of him when he caught the boy sneaking back into the village. Also they led us to the cave and we found the fire ring and the dirty bandages in the inner chamber,” said a second voice.

A third voice chimed in, “I can’t believe that Bella was a minion of the Dark One. She seemed like such a nice girl.” Belle recognized that voice as Seff one of the regulars at the tavern that she had served and flirted with when she was working there.

“It’s the book learning,” grunted the second voice, “Women shouldn’t learn to read. There is no reason for it.”

“When we find them,” said the first voice with lust, “she is going to learn a few new things that I am sure the Dark One hasn’t taught her.”

Belle saw Rumple put his fist in his mouth to smother a whimper. She didn’t like the way this conversation was going.

“What if she was charmed by the Dark One?” said Seff, “What if he forced her to free him? We could rescue her from him and save her soul.”

The second voice snorted in derision, “No saving her. She is damned already for having any truck with the Dark One. Better we find her dead at his hands than alive at ours.”

“How far do you think they could have gotten?” asked Seff.

“Depends on how much his body healed since she freed him,” said the first voice, “His healing was slowing down so if it holds to the pattern, then his legs are still broken so they can’t get far.”

“But you have to hold into account that we haven’t being having a go at him every day so there are no new wounds for his body to deal with,” said the second voice.

“Lars, you always over think thing,” said the first voice.

Lars grunted, “I still think we missed them Fredritch back there. Plus it is getting dark and we don’t have the dogs with us. Let’s go back and get them and start this search tomorrow with the dogs.”

“What do you think Seff?” asked Fredritch.

“I agree with Lars. The road is not that even here and we don’t want to lose the horses. Also if his legs were still broken, I don’t think Bella could have carried him this far. Let’s go back. The monks can give us a better idea where he is by sunrise tomorrow.”

Fredritch didn’t seemed convinced but the other two talked him into going back after a bit. They road back towards the tower.

Belle waited until she couldn’t hear the hoofs of the horses any more and let out the breath she thought she had been holding the whole time. Rumpelstilskin looked scared. She touched him and he jumped a bit.

“It’s just me Rumpelstilskin. The guards rode back but they will return tomorrow so we need to get to that mountain path before that.”

He uncurled slowly and nodded. He almost seemed to be in a fugue state put there merely by hearing the voices of his tormentors. Belle knew that he hadn’t told her all that had happened but she wasn’t going to push the point. They had a footpath to get to. She took Rumpelstilskin’s hand on her arm and they continued quickly as they could down the road.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are heading to the finishing line with this little fic.
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments. They are motivation.

They crossed the first stream shortly after the hoof beats faded into the distance. They quickly made their way to the second stream.

Rumpelstilskin pulled back on her arm making her stop studdenly.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“We need to walk in this stream a bit to throw the dogs off our scent. So don’t just go across. Go across and down then we will double back to the path.”

“That makes sense.”

She did just that but was worried about the time they were losing trying to get the dogs off their scent. 

As the sun started to rise, Rumplestilskin gasped, fell backwards into the stream, and started thrashing about.

“That bloody collar!” Belle said to no one in particular. She helped keep his head above water until he finally fell into unconsciousness. She noted the pattern in her head of the glowing runes around his collar as she kept him from drowning.

She picked him up and put him over her shoulders and walked a little further down stream before cutting up and back towards the trail that would take them through the mountains. She made it about half way back to where they had started walking when she heard Rumpelstilskin groan. She put him carefully on the ground. He opened his eyes and said in a very hoarse voice, “Can I have some water?” 

She pulled the waterskin from her belt and handed it to him. He took a long drink and handed it back to her. “How long?” he asked.

“About 40 minutes. I am figuring we don’t have much more time before they get in the area.”

He nodded and they started walking as quickly as they could.

They heard the hounds howling for the chase shortly thereafter. 

They started to run towards the mountains. She heard the sounds of horses and dogs coming closer and closer from the south.

“At least we bought ourselves sometime,” mumbled Belle.

Rumplestilskin grabbed her arm tighter and they ran faster. She saw the narrow path in front of them. They couldn’t get horses up that she thought. They took to the very narrow path with Belle in front and Rumplestilskin behind her with his hand on her shoulder. They kept moving even though their lungs were screaming at them. They could hear the sound of the hounds getting closer and now the swearing voices of men coming up the path behind them. They got into a slightly larger part of the path so they could stand side by side. They turned around to see the hounds break into the space behind them. They took their staffs and fought off the dogs. Belle felt sorry that she had to hit them but these dogs weren’t giving quarter. The first guard tried to get into the space but the hounds were taking up what little extra space there was. Belle knocked the sword out of his hand and Rumpelstilskin picked it up and flipped it around so he had it by the hilt. He stabbed the guard who screamed and slumped forward. The guard behind him couldn’t get past the body but somehow Rumpelstilskin managed to stab him too so that their bodies blocked the entrance. He and Belle finishing knocking the dogs out with their staffs.

“Belle you need to guide me so I can face this way to take care of anything else that they might throw at us.”

Belle started down the narrow passage again with a hand on Rumpelstilskin guiding him the best that that she could. They heard voices from behind them debating if they should go on or go back and get help. One guard declared that he was going to catch the Dark One if it was the last thing he did. The rest left him to it.

They got to another spot that opened up a bit.

“We confront him here,” said Rumpelstilskin. Belle wasn’t sure but she knew Rumpelstilskin wasn’t going to leave this spot until the deed was done or they were captured.

“Get behind me Belle. I need you to be my eyes.”

The guard that came through was the largest of the guards. His eyes narrowed when he saw them.

“Oh Dark One, I am going to enjoy punishing you. Too bad your eyes aren’t working or I would make you watch what I am going to do with your little bitch. And Bella, I must say I am both disappointed and happy that you are the one I am going to take as my war prize. I am sure that we will get to know each other very well.”

Belle felt Rumpelstilskin shiver at the voice. He steeled himself and said,” Let’s see if your sword skills are as big as your bluster.”

The fight was mercifully short. The big guard was use to swinging his sword and he had no room to swing it without hitting rock. Rumpelstilskin got first blood by stabbing the guard just above the knee. He then proceeded to take the man apart piece by piece.

At some point the guard’s small brain realized that he was in trouble and he dropped his sword and started pleading for his life. Belle watched at Rumpelstilskin laughed as he slit finally the guard’s throat and seemed to reveal in the spray of blood. Belle felt a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. She remembered that he was called the Dark One for a reason. Rumpelstilskin spit on the corpse and was about to stab it again when Belle stopped him. 

“That’s enough,” she said grabbing his sword arm. His whole body was trembling.

“Do you even have any idea what that sack of worm food did to me? He took pleasure in my pain! He loved to break my body and then try to break my mind!”

“And he is dead. You have had your revenge but if you want to savor it, we need to get going.”

He finally seemed to calm down and they continued through the mountain pass. 

The rest of the trip back to the castle almost seemed anticlimactic. Every morning Rumpelstilskin would awaken by the collar strangling him. Belle would pick up his unconscious body and carry him until he regained consciousness. They managed to hide from any and all on the roads. 

The castle’s doors opened for them. She helped him over the threshold and deposited him on a daybed that was in the entrance hall. There were bandages and water waiting for her on the table along with food and drink. She jumped as the doors slammed shut. She had gotten him home and that was what she had promised. She passed out from relief and sheer fatigue.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are in the home stretch for this fic. 
> 
> I am thinking a couple more chapters.
> 
> I have other ideas that I would like to do and I must say that I am encouraged by the comments and kudos.

When Belle came to, she found a pillow under her head and she was covered with a soft blanket. She looked around the hall and didn’t see Rumpelstilskin on the daybed that had been so conveniently there when they came in. She stood up and stretched trying to work out all the kinks and knots that seemed to inhabit her body. She heard a tapping and turned to see Rumplestilskin walking perfectly normally towards her. His eyes were still startling to look at. However being home seemed to be doing him a world of good. He was using the staff to guide himself.

“Belle, are you awake?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“You have been out for quite a while. I was starting to get worried.”

“I am fine. Thank you.”

“Why don’t you go take a bath and get some clean clothes on. Join me in the library when you are done.”

Now that, thought Belle, was an excellent idea. And Rumpelstilskin had taken his own advice. He looked like her Rumpelstilskin with the exception of the cold iron that circled his neck, wrists, and ankles and the blank stare.

She went to the bathroom and found a tub already drawn for her. She stripped off the dirty clothing that she had been wearing and sank into the warm water letting her tension wash away. She almost fell asleep again but didn’t. After washing her hair a number of times to get all the grit and sticks out of it, she left the tub and dried off. Her usual blue dress was waiting her along with clean undergarments and her favorite brush. She took the time to get the rest of the tangles out of her hair and pulled it into a braid. 

She went to the library to find a nice lunch set out on the table in the middle of the room. Rumplestilskin shortly joined her. 

“Have you looked outside?” he asked.

Funny question, she thought but she did as he bid. She could see that there were men outside the castle that were assembling a camp. She went down to the great hall and grabbed the spyglass that was in Rumpelstilskin’s trophy case as she called it. She ran back upstairs and looked through the glass. The guards were wearing the crest of the Queen who had captured Rumpelstilskin.

“They are here,” she said.

“Let them be. It is not like they are going to be able to get in,” he said in a low growl.

“We have to get that collar off of you.”

“Unfortunately I don’t know how they got it on.”

“Well we know that the monks chanting at dawn activates it. And we know that the pattern of runes are the same.”

“Do we?” 

“Well I have seen it enough now that I know the pattern. And I have seen those runes before.”

“Where?”

“In a book I read a while back.”

He snorted, “Well that pins it down.”

There was a pounding at the front gates of the castle. And someone shouted, “Dark One, we call you out to face your crimes.”

Rumpelstilskin grinned and shouted back, “No, I don’t think so but thanks for coming.” An arrow went whizzing past his ear. “Missed me,” he declared with a high pitched giggle. He and Belle retreated from the window and started to eat lunch. Belle had forgotten how nice it was to eat with silverware and drink from goblets rather than a water skin. A few more arrows came through the window. One even stuck in a book which Belle thought was very crass. There was more yelling from outside the castle but they ignored it.

Belle checked over Rumpelstilskin’s injuries after they had dinner. She was amazed at how fast he was healing except where the iron was touching his skin. 

“It is because you got me home,” he said, “I will always be grateful to you for that. You could have just run away and left me to my fate, why did you help me?”

She thought about it for a moment and said, “No one no matter how evil deserved that fate. I couldn’t leave you there after hearing the screams night after night. You are not the evil thing they say you are.”

Rumpelstilskin shuttered at the remembrance of his time in the tower. He leaned over and kissed her cheek lightly, “Thank you.”

Belle yawned, “I can’t believe how tired I am considering how long I slept.”

He laughed, “Escaping danger has that effect on me too.” He paused and said, “Belle would you..” he stopped not sure how to ask.

“Would I what?”

“Would you be willing to sleep in my bed chamber with me tonight,” he quickly added “You’ll have your own bed. I just…I just…” his voice trailed off.

She put a hand on his arm, “I understand.” 

They went up to his chamber where there was a comfortable cot set up for her.

“I hope that will do.”

“After sleeping on the ground for the past couple of weeks, it will seem like the most wonderful bed ever.”

He chuckled and said, “Good Night Belle.” He went into his bathroom and changed into his nightclothes. He walked his way to his bed and settled down. He turned his head towards Belle and saw that her outline was cleared now. He could almost really see her. He tried to focus more and then realized that she was dressing for bed. He didn't know if he should say something but decided to keep his silence. Besides the view was breathtaking.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we come to the end of our tale. Thanks for reading.
> 
> I will put a warning for this chapter for discussion of suicide because I know that is a trigger for some.

Belle settled into the cot and almost fell asleep when her head hit the pillow. It felt so good to be sleeping on a bed rather than the cold hard ground. She snuggled into the sheets and blankets and drifted off.

Only to be awoken to the sound of choking. It took her a moment to remember where she was. She hopped out of her warm bed and went to Rumpelstilskin’s bed where he was thrashing around as the collar yet again tried to take away his air supply. The fit passed once the sun had risen. 

Rumpelstilskin lay on the bed gasping for air. He turned and looked at Belle and said, “Kill me.”

“What?!?!” she said in shock and horror.

“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t live like this anymore. I need you to kill me and then wreak my vengeance upon those who brought me to this state.”

“You can’t mean that,” she said softly.

He turned his head towards her and seemed to look her straight in the eye, “I am serious. Belle you are the only one I trust to do this.”

“What if, “she thought quickly trying to come up with some alternative that didn’t involved her in murder, “what if I could find a way to get the collar off of you?”

He laughed a short barking laugh, “how? Where? We don’t have the spell book that they used to get it on.”

“Sir, I have seen these runes before in a book I read here. Let me find that book and see if I can’t figure out how to reverse the magic.”

“I give you seven days. After that you must be willing to accepted the duty I have given you.”

“Seven days,” she said, “agreed.”

He held out his hand and she shook it, “A deal is struck,” he said.

“You need to give me as much time as possible.”

“I relieve you of your duties to tidy the castle,” he said and he waved his hand in dismissal of Belle.

She turned to go, stopped and said, “Well I should at least get you breakfast.”

“All ready taken care of,” said Rumpelstilskin.

She turned to find him set up with a rather nice breakfast tray. She grabbed some bread and fruit off the tray and went to the library.

The next six days were pretty much the same. She spent the day in the library trying to find that one book again and remove the stray arrows that came through the window. The night she slept in the same room as Rumpelstilskin. She held him each morning as he was being tortured by the collar and then went back to the library to search.

She chided herself for reading so much in such a short time. About lunchtime she found the book she had been looking for all week. It was a rather obscure text on the theory of alchemy and magic. It included examples of various types of each and some forms that overlapped. She remembered it as a rather dry read that she had found herself skimming through than actually reading. She started leafing through the book and there she saw a list of runes that included the ones on the collar. She went back to the beginning of the chapter and quickly figured out that she was going to have to read the whole book to this point since the author kept referring to things that were earlier in the text. She sat down and started powering her way through the book. By dinner she was half way through the text she needed to read. She brought the book with her to show Rumpelstilskin that she had found the book but she was working on the information. He gave her until sunset of day seven to figure it out or she was going to have to kill him before sunrise the next morning.

That night she went back to the library and continued to study the text. Now when she came to the chapter about the runes, she understood the theory behind the magic that activated the collar. She just had to figure out how to deactivate it now. She finally found the information she needed almost. She worked out on paper the sequence she was praying was the right one. She knew that she had to start the process just as the sun was setting and she only had one shot at it.

She went back to Rumpelstilskin, “I have found it and figured out how to rescue you.”

He snorted, “Forgive me if I am a little skeptical my dear. Magic is not your strong suit.”

She lay out the evidence and theory she had worked from the book. He was rather impressed.

“However,” he said, “if this doesn’t work, then you do my bidding and kill me. I would rather be dead than live like this.”

She nodded and prayed that she was right. She spent the rest of the day preparing the space for the spell she was going to cast. She painted the runes on the floor she was going to need along with the area where Rumpelstilskin needed to stand. She guided him to the point that she needed him. She put on the dragonskin gloves she had pulled off the guard and waiting for the appointed time. As sunset started, she pushed the first rune. The collar started to glow and she carefully but quickly went through the sequence. The room hummed with power. She hit the last rune and the collar snapped open as did the shackles around his wrists and ankles. They dropped to the floor with a mighty thud. She watched as Rumpelstilskin’s eyes cleared and his skin started to glow a golden color. She had unleashed the Dark One but now she had to prevent him from killing those that had captured them.

While she still had him in the circle she said, “I want your word that you will not kill your captors or change them into strange animals. Just send them back home and forget this.”

She could feel the power crackling around her. And Rumpelstilskin looked at her with such a monstrous look.

“You ask mercy for them? For those who tortured me?”

“I do. They have families and friends. They are blinded by their religious fervor. But I have lived among them, they are not bad people.”

He thought about it, “I do owe you a favor, is this it?”

She nodded.

He turned on his heel and started walking out of the room to the balcony over looking the valley.

He heard the chanting of the monks. Belle watched as he vanished in a puff of red smoke. She heard screams of terror coming from the camp and then the camp vanished in a purple hazy. When the hazy cleared the camp and all its people were gone.

Rumpelstilskin reappeared at her elbow and she jumped a bit.

“What did you do?” she asked almost afraid of the answer.

“I sent them home with a strong feeling that if they ever crossed my path again, they would die on the spot.”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now dearie, we need to talk about how far you are behind your chores,” he said with a smile.

She laughed and the two of them went arm in arm back into the castle.

THE END


End file.
